[REVIEW] 4194 Whitecap Bay

[Ice]

Indexed

Hi everyone, today I will be reviewing the new LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean 4194 Whitecap Bay set. This is an action packed scene as seen in the new movie On Stranger's Tides. After seeing the movie, I knew I just had to get this set. Is this the set for you? Read on!

Basic LEGO Set Details

Theme: Pirates of the Caribbean
Set Name: 4194 Whitecap Bay
Piece: 746
MSRP: $79.99 USA | $99.99 Canada | £71.99 UK
Price Per Piece: $0.1072 USA | $0.134 Canada | £0.965 UK


Buy Now: USA | Canada | UK

LEGO's Description

Snag a sea siren without destroying Whitecap Bay!

Captain Jack Sparrow and his band of pirates are lying in wait, plotting to capture one of the mysterious mermaids of Whitecap Bay. Hide inside the lighthouse, then use the searchlight to spot them in the murky depths below. Shoot the net from the boathouse cannon when they get close to shore! Beware of the whale oil barrels tipping near the open flames!

•Includes 6 minifigures: Jack Sparrow, Philip, Scrum, Syrena, pirate and mermaid
•Features lighthouse, boathouse, rowboats, net-shooting cannon and working searchlight
•Includes flame elements, gold bricks and coins
•Use the cannon to launch the net!
•Tip the whale oil barrel!
•Use the explode function to create chaos in the lighthouse!
•Searchlight really lights up!
•Row the rowboats with the oars!
•Measures over 10” (25cm) tall and 12” (30cm) wide
•Rowboats measure over 4” (10cm) long and 1” (2cm) wide
•Includes free poster!

The Box

The box is exactly the same size as LEGO Slave I. Its also the same size as the AT-TE box but is a bit thinner.

Front of the Box


Back of the Box


Inside the Box


There are 6 bags numbered 1-6. Each bag contains smaller bags inside. Here are the pieces that are not in bags, but are placed directly in the box.


Like all other LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean sets, LEGO has now packaged the instructions, poster, stickers, and card in a bag to prevent them from getting wrinkled. There's even a cardboard at the back for additional support and protection! Thumbs up for this! :)

The Instructions


There are 2 instruction booklets in this set.


Some of the functions and a page showing all the LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean posters.


Back of the #2 instructions booklek advertising LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean Video Game.

The Poster

This is not the mini ones you get in the smaller sets. Its actually a standard size one similar to the May 4th promotion poster.


One side of the poster shows this set in action.


This other side of the poster shows the map to the fountain of youth?


Here's a closer look at the stickers sheet and card. Syrena is the "collectable card" for this set. Its disappointing that we're getting stickers again. Stickers always bugs me but I guess LEGO wants to reuse the pieces so they're being cheap. :( All the pictures in this review has the stickers applied.

The Minifigures

Minifigures are always the key attraction of a set. We get 6 minifigures and 4 of them are exclusive to this set. Captain Jack Sparrow and the Pirate are available in other sets.

Captain Jack Sparrow and Philip (apologies for the blurriness)

There are alternate faces for both Jack Sparrow and Philip.

Scrum and another Pirate

I'm actually quite upset that I'm getting the same pirate found in Queen's Annes Revenge and Captain's Cabin. It seems like LEGO only made 2 regular pirates minifigure in the entire Pirates of the Caribbean line and those 2 Pirates can be founded in the Captain's Cabin set. Whats even more disappointing is that they are all the zombie ones. :( LEGO should have given us more pirates variety.

The Mermaids
I love these mermaids. LEGO did a really good job on them. Their tails can be facing front or back. Syrena (the blue one) even has a tear in her happy and cute face!

Happy and cute faces


Angry and evil faces (apologies for the blurriness)


The Build

Bag 1

Pearl gold elements? :? Not too sure if I can get gold elements instead of these pearl gold elements cause the box doesn't show the coins. I know for sure you can get replacements for 4181 Isla de Muerta.


Bag 1 contains 2 boats, a net, an anchor, and the bucket that holds the "whale oil barrels".


The boats are the same so lets have a closer look at one of them. Each boat has a lantern at the tip and 2 oars. There's also a mini bucket (used for pouring out water?) and seats. Very little pieces used but has all the basics of a boat!


Here's the Bucket holding the "whale oil barrels". At the bottom right hand corner, theres a smaller bucket. That bucket is used to hold the "gold coins".


Here's one of the functions shown in the set for the "whale oil barrels". All you do is pull the piece on the left and the bucket will fall over.

Bag 2

Here's what we build in bag 2. The bottom level of the Whitecap Bay Tower.


The back of the bottom level. I guess this is to imitate a table where the Pirates can hangout for a beer.

Bag 3

Continuing on, we finish building the middle level of the Whitecap Bay Tower in bag 3. We also add the "light up brick" here as well.


The back of the middle level.

Bag 4

The final level of the Whitecap Bay Tower.


Here we add the whale oil barrels bucket from bag 1 to the left of the tower.

Bag 5

In bag 5, we build a little building.


The back of the building with storage for some tools. There's another beer bottle here.


This little building goes to the right of the Whitecap Bay Tower.


We also start building this weird piece of thing. What do you think it is? :P

Bag 6

Well, the piece of thing is actually to store the boathouse cannon which of course, stores the net.


Here, the doors are closed to cover the boathouse cannon.


The back of the cannon storage. To use the net shooting feature, all you do is just push the long LEGO piece. I really think this is kinda lame and is not effective at all.


This goes to the right of the Whitecap Bay Tower again and now we're done building!

Extra Pieces

Here are the extra pieces from the entire set. We get the typical tiny little pieces, but we also get an extra oar and compass!

The Set

Whitecap Bay Tower
This is the complete Whitecap Bay Tower by itself.


Here's the back.


Collapsing Function

Here's how you recreate the collapsing function. All you do is just move the center piece (red rectangle) to the right and left. Very impressive.

Here's the effect.


The Complete Set


The Set in Action!

The mermaids lure the crew.


Angry mermaids are attacking the crew with their seaweed stingers.


Philip catches Syrena! Though, he does feel bad when he sees Syrena's cute beauty face.


Summary

LEGO 4194 Whitecap Bay is a great set that really can recreate the scene in Pirates of the Caribbean On Stranger's Tides. There's lots of detail and cool functions. The mermaids, boats and the details on the tower is very well done. The build is also very straightforward and easy. I built this in 2 hours.

However, there are some cons that really needs improvement. The price is average but looks like a much better deal after seeing how much more you get compared to LEGO Star Wars 8097 Slave I. Stickers are one of my pet peeves, but I still apply them anyways. There were lots of pirates in the movie and the majority of them are not zombified. I don't get why LEGO likes giving zombie pirates that are the exact same minifigure in many other sets. :( More pirates variety (not zombified) would be good. The set is also missing a few major characters. Afterall, Angelica and Blackbeard were in the action too. They could have excluded Blackbeard, but Angelica is definately needed because she's one of the main characters and did get attacked by mermaids. A plank/bridge to Whitecap Bay Tower would also be a nice addition. That way, it would make it look more like a "Sea" set rather than just a plain Lighthouse building. The net cannon doesn't work well and it takes up 1/3 of the set. I don't recall seeing so I'd rather they remove that and add the plank/bridge and give Angelica, more pirates and mermaids minifigures.

Ok, enough of my ranting on what needs to be improved. I probably said more bad things about it than good things. We usually see more bad comments about a company than good comments right? :P Its still a really good set so I would highly recommend it. The collapsing function was designed very well. I would say thats the best function for this set as its just like the movie. The mermaids minifigures are obviously the best in this set though! :D

Ratings

Build: 4.5/5
Minifigures: 4/5
Pieces: 4.25/5
Price: 4/5
Play Features: 4.5/5
Overall: 4.25/5

Thanks for reading my review! By the way, I took these pictures from my phone. You thought it was from a camera right? ;)

[legohunter]

Thx for the review. Will pick this up when it is on sale. I am not super fans of PofC, may modify it and blend it into castle theme. However, not sure what to do with two boats.

I love the idea of well packing for instruction booklets. Instructions from large box set always got damage.

[akunthita]

Thanks for this review! I'm not a Pirates of the Caribbean fan, but I do like the sets. I think the pieces fit well with the castle-line (which I'm a fan of).

IMHO those mermaids are the loveliest figs LEGO has ever made! I forgive them for all their lack of ability to connect with female fans!

I don't like stickers either! I don't know anyone who does. :(

[unclephn]

After seeing the movie, I couldn't agree more about your criticism about the lack of a plank/bridge to add more of a water/ocean feel to the set. I mean, it's called 'Whitecap BAY', and not 'Whitecap Tower' after all. But reading your descriptions and viewing the photos really show that this is a nice set that remains faithful to the movie.

Great review, Ice!

[Ice]

After seeing the movie, I couldn't agree more about your criticism about the lack of a plank/bridge to add more of a water/ocean feel to the set. I mean, it's called 'Whitecap BAY', and not 'Whitecap Tower' after all. But reading your descriptions and viewing the photos really show that this is a nice set that remains faithful to the movie.

Ya, you take away the boats and mermaids and it becomes a Medieval Tower set rather than a Lighthouse/Bay set. No wonder legohunter and akunthita both said it will go well with the Castle theme. I looked at just the tower again and it will look like a Castle set if I didn't watched the movie. The box art really helped add the "water" effect and made the set look much more cooler.

If time permits, I may review the other Pirates of the Caribbean sets including Queen's Annes Revenge. Though, this review alone took me 3-4 hours because there's 40+ pictures.

[ncbarrett]

Good review
Always thought it looked like a very nice castle set.

Though, this review alone took me 3-4 hours because there's 40+ pictures.

This is why I haven't reviewed much, with a 3 and 1 year old very little time to take proper pics for a review.

[lukeskywalker]

Great review, I especially like the collapsing function.

[DrBeaker]

Nice review, Ice. The castle has a lot of utility and I love the mermaids!

[atmail35]

Thank you for the time-consuming review - very detailed an informative! I finally had a chance to sit down and read it. I love the mermaids. I am with you on the stickers...I hate stickers and always get them on crooked. That is disappointing that the pirate is a deja vu character...very annoying actually.

I bought this set at Target w/ B2G1 50% off...two of them actually and now I'm tempted to keep both. I haven't opened it yet since no one in this household has seen Stranger Tides yet. I'm glad I picked it up on sale though, it's going to be a fun one once we build it.